An image in tatters

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- He played quarterback like no other before him. Or since.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- He played quarterback like no other before him. Or since.

Michael Vick revolutionized the position with his electrifying speed, his bazooka of an arm and elusiveness that video games had difficulty capturing.

By the end of the 2004 season, three short years after Vick was the first overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons, he was the face of the NFL and had a $130 million contract.

His likeness adorned the popular Madden video game. The "Michael Vick Experience" Nike commercial was all the rage. His jersey No. 7 was among the top-five sellers since 2001. And he had endorsement contracts with Coca-Cola, Hasbro and Kraft, among others.

On the field, Vick marched the Falcons into Green Bay during the 2002 playoffs and handed the Packers their first-ever home-field postseason loss, helped Atlanta to the 2004 NFC championship game and made three Pro Bowls in five years.

Now, it has all come crashing down in the span of 30 months as Vick, 27, and three others have been charged with sponsoring competitive dogfighting on property he owns in Virginia.

At worst, Vick, who was arraigned Thursday in Richmond, Va., could face up to six years in prison. At best, Vick has lost the magnetism as one of sports' most marketable and popular figures in the most precipitous fall from the NFL's pedestal since Green Bay running back Paul Hornung, the Packers' Golden Boy, was suspended for the 1963 season for betting.

"I don't think there has been a guy in modern times that has fallen so far," former Dallas Cowboys executive Gil Brandt said.

While Hornung's bookmaking chipped away at the integrity of the game, it didn't come close to stirring the emotions of Vick's alleged atrocities, especially among the estimated 73 million dog owners in the United States.

"This is as bad as it gets," said Bob Dorfman, a San Francisco endorsement expert who publishes Sports Marketers Scouting Report.

"There is something about messing with pets that strikes the wrong chord in America. In the grand scheme of things, is it worse than a DUI, is it worse than rape allegations? ... But there is something about this which rubs everybody the wrong way, and it stands out more than a DUI, which seems like every other player in sports is getting these days.

"And the allegations of the cruelty and how these animals were killed make it even worse."

It doesn't help that Vick denied knowledge of the activities listed in the 18-page indictment when he met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at the draft in April. That could come back to haunt Vick.

"When somebody lies to you, that does not make you feel good," Brandt said. "The commissioner asked him, and Michael Vick said he had nothing to do with it. But they've got witnesses and photographs and everything that say he was completely untruthful with the commissioner."

Even as Goodell and the Falcons await Vick's day in court in order to ascertain their own forms of punishment, Vick's aura as an athlete may never be recaptured. Already, Nike suspended the release of a fifth signature shoe, and Friday suspended his endorsement deal without pay and halted sales of Vick-related shoes and other products at its retail stores.

"He's lost the backing of public opinion," said David Archer, a former Falcons quarterback and radio analyst for the past five years. "There are a lot of blue-collar people out there wondering how in the world can you have all the money, the fame and everything that goes along with what he had, and ... potentially throw it away."

Archer is still willing to hear Vick's side.

"We've got to walk a mile in his shoes a little bit," Archer said. "He comes from a little different culture than probably I did or you did from a middle-class family. He didn't have that as a kid, and some of the lessons you learn from your parents, he probably didn't get and had to learn some of those things on the streets."

Even if Vick were to be exonerated or pleads guilty to a lesser charge, it's questionable whether he will be forgiven by his once-adoring fans. Hornung returned to the Packers and finished a Hall of Fame career.

The sexual assault case against NBA star Kobe Bryant in 2003 was dropped; he lost some endorsements, but his image has recovered.

"Kobe Bryant had the advantage of playing basketball, a more marketable sport," Dorfman said. "You're not wearing spikes, you're wearing street shoes that kids wear and buy. There is a more direct correlation between athlete and product.

"Having a company like Nike that sticks with you and stands by you helps. Nike would do the same with Vick until he's proven guilty. They won't use him at all, and when his contract expires, they can drop him or start to activate him a little bit depending on how things go.

"But first, the charges would have to be dropped. He would have to be very contrite in public, apologize profusely, donate a lot of money and time to the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) or some other animal-rights organization, and maybe over time try to get back. And on the field, he has to lead Atlanta to postseason success."

Archer doubts whether Vick can ever play again in Atlanta because Falcons owner Arthur Blank won't stand for the image of his organization being tarnished further. And if the legal proceedings spill into this season and beyond, that will create another set of circumstances, not least of which would be whether the Falcons would absorb a salary-cap hit and release Vick if the NFL doesn't suspend him.

"Do you play him? Is he your guy?" Archer said. "Now you have team chemistry issues . . . who's backing him, are they with him? Most guys would be … but there is a faction of guys who aren't going to stand for it."